This information applies only to the Original Course View. Your institution controls which tools are available.
A question set is a collection of questions drawn from selected tests and pools.
You can use question sets when you create tests. You choose how many questions you want in the set. The questions are randomly chosen each time a student takes the test. Question selection uses the same workflow as the find questions workflow, where you can use search and browse by metadata.
You can include multiple question sets in a test. For each question set, you can specify these parameters:
- The pools and tests that the question set will draw from
- The type of questions to draw from
- The number of questions to draw from
You choose the number of questions from the question set to show. For example, you can show 3 questions out of 50. The questions are then randomly distributed so each student sees a different set of 3 questions. You can also show students all of the questions in the question set.
Ultra vs. Original Course View assessment terminology
We’ve made some changes to assessment feature names based on user research and current industry standards. The Ultra Course View includes the new terminology that aligns with current standards.
This table lists the names of assessment question features in the two course views.
| Ultra Course View | Original Course View |
|---|---|
| Question pool | Random block and question set |
| Question bank | Question pool |
| Question analysis | Item analysis |
Question sets vs. random blocks
Though both question sets and random blocks deliver questions randomly to students, the two features have distinct differences:
- You can manually choose questions from all tests, surveys, and pools for question sets. Random blocks draw questions from pools only, so you can't include questions from other tests or surveys. Before you create random blocks, you must first create at least one question pool.
- You can search questions and browse metadata to create question sets. You can't search questions or browse metadata when you create random blocks.
- You can delete questions in a question set. The question is removed from the set, but not deleted from your course. You can't delete questions within a random block. If you don't want a question included in your random block, remove it from the pool.
After you make your selections, you set the same points possible for all questions in the set or block. To assign a different point value to a question, you need to add the question individually outside of a block or set.
Create question sets
If enabled, be sure to disable the pop-up blocker for Blackboard Learn so that you can access the Create Question Set pop-up window.
- Access the test. From the Reuse Question menu, select Create Question Set.
- In the pop-up window, search for questions in the Browse Criteria panel. Expand the criteria sections and select specific criteria. You can search within pools, tests, question types, categories, topics, levels of difficulty, and keywords. All questions meeting those criteria appear. You can also use the Search current results box to type a phrase, word, or part of a word to find matching questions.
- Select the check boxes for the questions you want to add. The questions appear in the Selected Questions area at the bottom of the screen. You can expand the area to view your list of questions. Select the red X next to a question to remove it. The question is removed from the collection, but not deleted from your course.
- Select Submit. The questions are added to the question set on the Test Canvas.
Edit question sets
On the Test Canvas, locate the question set. The question set shows the total number of questions in the set, and the number of questions to display. The default is one.
You can change the number in the Number of Questions to display box.
In the Points per question box, type the points students can earn for each question in the set. For example, if you set it to 10, and the question set presents 2 out of 5 questions, the question set has a total of 20 points that students can earn for correct answers. You can't assign separate point values for individual questions in the same question set. So, you may want to only include questions of approximately the same difficulty.
Because of the randomized format of question sets, use caution when you refer to specific question content or numbering. The questions that appear will change with each attempt.
Add questions to the set:
From the question set, expand Questions in the Set. Select Add Questions.
In the pop-up window, use the criteria to find and select the questions to add to the questions that are already in the set. Select Submit.
Remove questions from the set:
Select the questions and select Remove Question. The question is removed from the set, but not deleted from your course.
